The Phillies are one game away from winning the National League Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. With two outs in the ninth, the Phillies were down in the score 4-3. The Dodgers looked likely to take a win in the series. But then Jimmy Rollins stepped up to the plate, and, with the bases loaded, made a hit that drove in two runs to put the score at 5-4 and win the game for the Phillies. If the Phillies win one more game, they will take the series and play in their second consecutive World Series. The Phillies opened the game with confidence and determination. With Rollins on base, Ryan Howard hit a homerun off of Dodgers starter Randy Wolf, putting the score 2-0 in favor of Philadelphia. Three innings later, in the fourth, the Dodgers tied the game with two great hits by James Lonely and then Russell Martin, whose bats took Matt Kemp and Manny Ramirez to home plate. Soon after, in the fifth, the Dodgers took the lead on the scoreboard 3-2. Matt Kemp hit a solo homer, losing the ball behind the wall of the central lawn of Citizens Bank Park. Los Angeles strengthened its lead in the sixth, with a single from Casey Blake that drove Manny to home and the score up to 4-2. The Dodgers’ hopes for winning the match and tying the old circuit pennant series seemed more likely to come to fruition. But at the bottom of the sixth, Philadelphia’s Chase Utley hit a single to send Shane Victorino home for the Phillies’ third run. They were now 1 point behind the Dodgers, 4-3. At the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers seemed ready to reach out and take the game – that is, of course, until Rollins beat pitcher Jonathan Broxton and made the winning hit. 5-4 flashed on the board, and Philadelphia had won another game. “This is big. The pressure is all on them. We wanted this. We needed this to put the pressure on them at our place. We just have to find a way to win one more game. We don’t want to go back to Los Angeles,” stated Rollins Dodgers manager Joe Torres pointed to a tough final inning and the Phillies’ strong lineup. Baseball is just one of those games – you can lose at the last minute. Nevertheless, he said he had confidence in his team. “It’s one of those things. It’s a very tough lineup to go through. You try to be careful. Our mind-set is playing one game at a time. In the postseason, you think you can win three games in a row,” said Torres. The win brings the Phillies that much closer to their second consecutive World Series and a chance at the National League Championship. The best-of-seven series will continue on Wednesday in Philadelphia, with a duel between local pitcher Cole Hamels and Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw or Vicente Padilla.
Ally White is a top senior copy writer on MLB games and sports action for the sportsbetting www.instantactionsports.com/.
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